Sunday, August 31, 2014, 9:41 A well-known Jewish contractor driving home late at night with two Jewish employees was detained after being confronted by Arabs who cut him off, tried to run him off the road and caused an accident. The contractor called the police to report the incident, but was himself placed in remand and later an indictment was filed against him. Honenu: “The police decision is shocking and astonishing.”
The case began on Monday, August 25. The contractor, a resident of one of the Binyamin region communities, was driving home at night when near the Bir Zeit Intersection a large Arab vehicle came from the direction of Bir Zeit, cut him off and tried to run him off the road. Only the quick-wittedness of the contractor, who was forced to swerve onto the shoulder, prevented his vehicle from overturning. However the vehicles did scrape each other and damage estimated at 10,000 NIS was caused to the contractor’s vehicle.
According to the contractor immediately after the slight collision, the Arab driver, who had two passengers with him, began to honk his horn and force the contractor off the road, while crossing a white line. The contractor, who feared stopping on the twisty, dangerous road reasoned that he was caught in an attempted robbery or terror attack, such as those that have occurred recently, and continued driving quickly to the Jewish community of Ateret and stopped next to the gate. The entire time the Arab vehicle had been speeding after him.
At this point three Arabs stepped out of their vehicle and the contractor and his two Jewish employees stepped out of their vehicle. A clash broke out between the two sides. They shoved, kicked and one of the Arabs lifted large rocks and threatened the contractor. According to the contractor the clash started when the Arab driver punched him.
The contractor called the police, who arrived after 20 minutes. Before the police arrived, when the contractor thought that the Arabs were about to escape, he punctured one of the Arab vehicle’s tires.
Soldiers arrived on the scene and checked the personal information of the Arabs and discovered that one of them is not allowed within the Green Line by recommendation of the GSS. Policemen arrived on the scene and brought everyone involved with the incident to the police station. Both sides filed complaints. The Arabs claimed that the Jewish contractor had tried to run them off the road, however that is a most problematic statement because the Jews were driving on the main highway and the Arabs turned out of Bir Zeit.
The Jewish passengers related that they felt threatened as the Arabs were following them and reacted accordingly after the Arabs approached them in a threatening manner.
“The situation today is very dangerous,” said one of the Jews during his interrogation. “There have been incidents of car-jacking and terror attacks in which [Arab] drivers have forced cars off of the road. We were stressed by the incident, which we consider to have been an attempt to force us off the road.”
“I told the interrogator that if a woman had been in my place they would have killed her. Either in an intentional traffic “accident” or afterwards when they got out of their vehicle in order to assault,” said the contractor after his release.
In the end all of the Arabs and the two Jewish passengers were released. The Jewish contractor remained in remand. On the same day an indictment was filed against him on charges of assault, possessing a knife and damaging a vehicle.
A spokesman from the Yehuda and Shomron District Police issued an announcement stating that one of the Arab complainants was moderately injured in the clash, however eye-witnesses described the incident as no more than a bit of shoving and kicking. Also after the Arabs were released at the police station, the “moderately injured” Arab changed the punctured tire by himself. Additionally, no medical documentation appears in the case file testifying to an injury caused to any of the Arabs.
Despite the circumstances of the incident and the fact that the contractor does not have a criminal record the police requested that he be released to complete house arrest, which would severely harm his livelihood. The court ruled on his release to house arrest until a deliberation on the evidence which will take place the following day. Honenu attorney David HaLevi, who is representing the contractor, pleaded that his client acted in self defense and demanded that the house arrest be canceled. “If the defendant had been alone and had not acted as he had to repel them [the assailants], it could be that he would have been the victim of the serious assault,” said HaLevi.
Judge Shmuel Herbst accepted the major part of HaLevi’s pleas partially “because of the unusual situation that night on the road between Bir Zeit and Neve Tzuf.” The road in that area is dark and twisty, on most of it there is no cell phone reception and there have been more than a few incidents of car-jacking during the past few months. Considering that the contractor is a normative individual without a criminal record, Judge Herbst ordered the cancellation of the complete house arrest and ruled on house arrest only at night for one month and thus the contractor is able to continue to work.
Honenu attorney David HaLevi stated in response, “The decision to put my client on trial was difficult to understand and astonishing. My client is in fact the victim of an incident in which he found himself faced with a group of Palestinians who damaged his vehicle and chased him. My client had no doubt that they were attempting to injure him and if had not been for his immediate and decisive response, which defended him against his assailants it is doubtful that the incident would have ended as it did. Also the court largely accepted our position and canceled the restrictive conditions which the police had requested without justification.”
-
Wednesday, August 7, 2024, 13:28 Yesterday (Tuesday), security forces and Civil Administration personnel destroyed four structures at Tzur Yisrael, a hilltop community in the Binyamin region. Three Yehuda and Shomron residents who protested the destruction and remained at the site a short time after the structures were destroyed were detained by the police who claimed that they had violated a closed military zone order.
-
Tuesday, August 6, 2024, 15:12 In February 2023, border police officers and Civil Administration personnel destroyed a vineyard under Jewish ownership near Shilo following a claim that it was situated on “private Palestinian land”. Dozens of protesters arrived in an attempt to prevent the destruction, among them Knesset Member Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit), who obstructed a tractor and was then assaulted by four border police officers.
-
Sunday, August 4, 2024, 21:33 On Sunday, a hearing for the soldiers detained at the Sde Teiman Military Base on suspicion of assaulting a Nukhba terrorist was held at the Beit Lid Military Court. Honenu Attorneys Adi Keidar and Nati Rom demanded the immediate release of the soldiers whom they are representing
-
Archives
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010